A touch-friendly browser for Windows 8/8.1 users

Attention Surface owners and anyone else rocking a touchscreen display with Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, there's a version of Firefox you might be interested in. Mozilla today made its "Firefox for Windows 8 Touch" beta available to download, so you can tap and swipe your way through cyberspace the way you do on the Start screen. The browser has a new tile-based Firefox start screen with one-tap access to Top Sites, Bookmarks, and History.

Though the touch aspect is new, you can still use familiar features like the Awesome Bar, Mozilla says. However, it also supports a wealth of touch input and gestures, along with several other key features baked into the latest release. These include Full, Snapped, and Fill views; Visual Navigation (big tiles on the Start screen); and Windows Share integration.

Beyond touch controls and various Windows 8 goodies, the new build also offers volume control for HTML5 audio/video, VP9 video decoding, a finalized (and enabled) gamepad API, and a few other features as described in the release notes.